First there was Felix-and-Oscar. There were The Golden Girls. Such arrangements--adults living with adult roommates--are about to get less comic and more common, say experts on housing and on the aging of the Baby Boom.
Rachel Caraviello, vice president of Affordable Living for the Aging (ALA), says that nationally there are about 130,000 households where the cohabiters are aged 50 or older, and where they have no familial relationship or romantic connection.
Caraviello views these arrangements as one more manifestation of the “sharing economy”. Here, one party typically is house-rich but cash-poor; and the other has money or services to contribute.
(Original Article)
I was a little taken back by the tone of this article. The author seems to be of the opinion that unrelated adults sharing living expenses is a new phenomenon, peculiar to today's economy.
I remember a time when it was very common for friends and acquaintances to pool their resources so as to live a more comfortable life. Most of my friends who moved out of their parents house after High School or College had apartments with roommates to offset the cost of rent and utilities. It was also a way for them to enjoy a kind of extended family and ease the transition to adulthood.
As a Yuppie, it was also de rigueur for a group of friends to rent a ski house for the winter, and then later "Summer in The Hamptons."
Is the author out of touch with what goes on in the real world, or is it me?
Your thoughts?.
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